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At the end of an eventful day, NFL decides to lock out players

The first work stoppage in the NFL since 1987 started Friday at midnight, as the league decided to institute a lockout of the players after negotiations between players and owners who were searching for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement broke down.

The move came at the end of an eventful 24 hours for the league and players, one that saw the two sides break off talks in the afternoon after discussing a new proposal from the owners. The brief possibility of a third extension in the talks was raised, but shortly before 5 p.m., DeMaurice Smith of the NFLPA said it first wanted assurances it would get 10 years of audited financial information. Apparently, that was not forthcoming.

“I would dare any one of you to pull out any economic indicator that would suggest that the National Football League is falling on hard times,” Smith said. “The last 14 days, the National Football League has said, ‘Trust us.’ But when it came time for verification, they told us it was none of our business.”

Shortly after that, the players’ union decided to decertify, then file an antitrust suit against the owners in federal court hoping to prevent a lockout. That suit included Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and offensive lineman Logan Mankins as plaintiffs, as well as former New England linebacker Mike Vrabel.

The players and owners took their shots at each other through the media when negotiations were done for the day.

“No one is happy where we are now,” NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash told reporters. “I think we know where the [union’s] commitment was. It was a commitment to litigate all along.”

“The union left a very good deal on the table,” added the league in a statement issued Friday afternoon.

As for the players, they lashed back at the accusations.

“I hate to say this, but [Pash] has not told the truth to our players or our fans,” outside union lawyer Jim Quinn told reporters. “He has, in a word, lied to them about what happened [Friday] and what’s happened over the last two weeks and the last two years.”

“I will tell you this: Any business where two partners don’t trust each other, any business where one party says, ‘You need to do X, Y and Z because I told you,’ is a business that is not only not run well, it is a business that can never be as successful as it can be,” Smith said.

According to reports, the players and owners are still separated on three major sticking points: the distribution of roughly $9 billion in revenue, a move from a 16-game to an 18-game regular season and the creation of a rookie wage scale. And while two previous extensions of the deadline gave some small cause for hope between the two sides, that was not the case this week. In fact, so little movement has been made recently between the two sides, even federal mediator George Cohen seemed to indicate Friday there was little hope of reaching an agreement before the latest deadline.

“The parties have not achieved an overall agreement, nor have they been able to resolve the strongly held competing positions that separated them on core issues,” Cohen said. “No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time.”

Now, the league is facing an uncertain offseason. With a lockout in place, players are not allowed inside a team facility, to speak with coaches or trainers. Teams cannot conduct voluntary workouts or organized team activities with players. In addition, teams could not interview or sign free agents, and as long as the lockout is on place, no payment of offseason roster bonuses, while workout bonuses are lost completely.

As for the draft, that will take place April 28-30. At the draft, teams will be allowed to swap draft picks but not players. However, draftees won’t be able to sign until a new deal is in place. They won’t even be able to get a playbook.

Instead, both sides appear to be headed for litigation in hopes of gaining some satisfaction, something that isn’t exactly appetizing for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who appeared weary after talks broke off on Friday.

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